Luckily for myRent users, we send this reminder for you. By having myRent inform your tenant about overdue rent, you can relax knowing that your tenant has been alerted without having to send that message yourself. Furthermore, if you're using myRent, overdue rent can be fixed up by credit card.
What if I want to do it myself?
A gentle reminder that rent was missed is better than a pushy request. While paying rent on time is important, occasionally, there could be extenuating circumstances. Sometimes it's as simple as someone forgetting, or something more serious may have happened which left no money in the right account for transfer, or maybe one tenant paid, and another didn't. If these overdue payments are infrequent, a friendly reminder will go a lot further and be greatly appreciated by your tenant. Most importantly, by using a friendly approach, you won't ruin your tenant/landlord relationship.
What to do when a friendly reminder isn't enough
14-day notice to remedy rent arrears
While most overdue rent can be remedied quickly, if the rent is not cleared after 2 days and/or you're not getting any response, it could be time to consider a more firm approach. As a landlord, you can issue a 14-day Notice to Remedy for any overdue rent, known as rent arrears. This gives your tenant 14 days to pay their overdue rent. If rent isn't paid after the 14 days elapses, you can then apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to terminate the tenancy.
Notice of overdue rent
From 11 February 2021, a new section of the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) 1986 provides landlords with an additional option for responding to rent arrears during a periodic tenancy.
Landlords may now apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to terminate a periodic tenancy if the tenant is more than 5 working days late paying rent on 3 separate occasions within a 90-day period. The landlord should issue the tenant notice of the unpaid rent on each of the three occasions. This notice should be in writing, state the amount of overdue rent, dates for which rent was overdue; include how many other notices of overdue rent the landlord has given the tenant in the relevant 90-day period and mentioned the tenant's right to make an application to the Tenancy Tribunal to challenge this notice.
The landlord can then apply to the Tenancy Tribunal within 28 days after the third notice was given to the tenant.
The information contained in this article is exclusively for promotional purposes. It does not in any way constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any legal action or contractual dealings. The information is not and does not attempt to be a comprehensive account of the relevant law in New Zealand. If you require legal advice, you should seek independent legal counsel. myRent.co.nz does not accept any liability that may arise from the use of this information.
